Part I

Overall tax revenue

boom-bust cycles; policymakers have to make

pragmatic choices among all available instruments.

P
r
o
p
e
r
t
y

Conclusions
The modest levels of recurrent immovable property
taxes in many Member States suggest the existence of
room for a tax shift away from distortionary taxes on
labour and capital towards recurrent immovable
property taxes. This seems to be, on balance, even more
the case for the group of EU Member States for which
OECD data are not available.
By and large, the existing near balance between
recurrent taxes on immovable properties and
transaction taxes appears hard to justify. Transaction
taxes are unattractive from a fairness viewpoint, have
been shown to pose non-negligible risks to budgetary
stability in case of a boom-bust cycle, as highlighted by
several cases, and in the case of transaction taxes on
housing, likely contribute to a higher unemployment
rate by hindering mobility.

t
a
x

54

Taxation trends in the European Union